The main story for today’s post regards a “Saudi woman killed for chatting on Facebook.” But first I want to mention two other stories on related topics that I’ve mentioned previously.
Israel National News reports (via Little Green Footballs via Diana Hsieh):
(IsraelNN.com) Dr. Wafa Sultan has been forced to go into hiding with her family following a fatwa (religious edict) from an Islamic scholar, according to Omedia. Sultan faces the fatwa following a recent debate on Al-Jazeera in which she challenged Egyptian Islamist Talat Rheim over Dutch cartoons of Mohammed, who Muslims revere as a prophet. Sultan argued that Denmark had the right to print the cartoons.
Sultan joins a growing list of public critics of radical Islam facing death threats. Her supporters have asked the American public to join them in writing to the embassy of Qatar, the country which sponsors Al-Jazeera, as well as to United States President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking them to defend Sultan’s right to free speech and personal safety.
I’ve quoted from the debate in question.
Next, Pat Condell has a new video out about Fitna (via Footballs via Howard R.), a film that I discussed a couple days ago. The producer of that film has also been threatened with death.
For a “religion of peace,” Islam seems to get more than its share of attention for some of its followers murdering people and threatening to murder people in the name of Islam.
Which brings us to the story about another so-called “honor killing” to hit the news.
The Telegraph reports (via 1000 Papercuts):
Saudi woman killed for chatting on Facebook
By Damien McElroy Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:46am BST 01/04/2008A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook, it has emerged.
The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported.
The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the “strife” the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.
Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation. …
The woman was murdered in August but her death was highlighted following Maliki’s comments. …
Critics also allege that Facebook is an avenue for the promotion of homosexual relations in Saudi Arabia. More than 6,500 people have signed the online petition in a bid to stop the conservative Muslim kingdom following Syria in banning access to the network from local internet servers.
What’s odd about this story is that the only reason we know about it is that it was used by the locals as an example of why Facebook is bad. Facebook causes “strife.” And fathers beating and shooting their daughters to death? Isn’t that the more obvious and morally culpable cause of “strife?” Shouldn’t violence against women, rather than internet communication, be effectively banned by the government?
Meanwhile, Western leaders are falling all over themselves to appease various followers of the “religion of peace,” lest those followers start murdering people and destroying property again — for the cause of “peace,” of course.